My tips for living happy, healthy, and green!

I feel like I have finally found my passion in life and it makes me feel so good! When I am talking about your passion is life I mean other then family and being a mom of course! My family is my number one priority and love in my life. I am talking about something for me so that I feel good about what I am doing and that I can actually impact the life of others.

My passion is health and wellness. I want to help teach other how to life healthy lives through diet, exercise, and overall well being. It amazes me more and more each day how much people do not know about his subject. I am trying to find new ways each day to help others. Since I am a stay at home mom I am trying to find ways to do this while still staying home with my son. The first thing I did was become a Shaklee Distributor, and now I am starting to run for different causes. This is a great way for me to promote exercise and raise money for different causes that I believe in. My next goal is to become a certified personal trainer so I can assist people in there journey to becoming healthier.

This summer I am running a 10K race to support the Lincoln Park Zoo. I feel strongly about supporting this Zoo because it is free to the public. It is a place where families can go and enjoy time together and not have to worry about how much money it is costing them. If you would like to run for this cause you can check out the United Run for the Zoo 2011, there is a 5K or 10K option. Or if you would just like to donate please visit my donations page.

The second run I am doing this summer is a half marathon on August 28th to support Cal’s All-Star Angel’s. Cal’s Angel’s was start by a family that lost there 12 year old son to leukemia. The mission and purpose – granting wishes and providing financial assistance to kids fighting cancer and their families – continues Cal’s legacy of always caring about others above anything else. Having a son of my own makes me think about how hard it would be if he were sick and inspires me to help Cal’s Angels so they can help others. I am running the Peapod Half Madness on Aug 28, 2011, if you would like to run click here or to donate click here.

I encourage everyone to really think about what they feel strongly about and go out there and do something about it. I feel so much better about myself doing something that I am passionate about and I get to help others as well.

After having my little one and not knowing many people in the area I started looking online for some way to meet other moms in the area. I came across a great website called meetup.com. There were so many groups in my general area to choose from it was great.

I am currently a member of two moms groups. I have found its a great way to get out and meet people. I love having so many activities to choose from. For me its also a great way to learn about different things to do in my area. I have found out a lot of things about the park district I live in and other great activities that I had no idea where in my area.

I really think that all new moms should try joining a mom’s group. I am a very shy person at first but this was a way I could make myself get out of the house. It’s also a great way to social my little guy. If not for being part of this group we would spend most days just the 2 of house at home. While I love hanging out with my little guy and love being at home we both need to get out and do new things. I want my little guy to have lots of great experiences and being part of a Mom’s group is a great way to start. He gets to meet lots of new kids, go to fun places, and just get used to being in different places around different people.

Check out a Mom’s group or any other group in your area at meetup.com!

Since my little man started eating a month ago I have been making all of his baby food. I started him on solid foods at 6 months old. He is loving eating solid foods! Making his food from the start is my way of influencing his eating habits for the rest of his life. I want to teach him from the beginning to eat healthy fruits and vegetables.

There are many benefits to making your own baby food:

1. You know exactly what is in the food! If you make it yourself you know there is no added sugar or preservatives.

2. Saves money…baby food in jars can get expensive. By making your own you can fruits and vegetables that are on sale, in season, or you can grow them your self.

3. Its good for the baby and the environment. No buying jars and recycling them. Think about how many jars of food you would go through in a month!

4. The food is Fresh. Even if you make a week or months worth of food at once and then freeze it, it will be fresher then the stuff in the jars at the store.

Its easy to make baby food. All you need is a pan, steamer baskets, and food processor or baby food grinder.

Step 1:

Wash and prepare fruit or vegetable. I leave the skin on until after I have steamed the item to keep more of vitamins and nutrients intact. I try to always choose organic fruits and veggies, this way I know they are free of pesticides and other harmful toxins.

Step 2: Steam fruit or vegetable. Place steamer basket over a couple of inches of water and cover. Timing depends of what item you are making. I just check the softness periodically.

Step 3: Peel fruit or veggie if needed.

Step 4: Place in food processor and blend to desired consistency. If stage 1 food you can add breast milk, formula, or water from the pan used for steaming to create a smoother consistency.

Step 5: If freezing place in freezer safe containers and place in freezer. Most items are good in the freezer for up to 3 months.

I like to take a day each week to make a week to a week and half worth of foods. That is what works best for me. I know some people will make food once a month and that works also.

So when my little man was about 4 months old I started using cloth diapers….we have been at it for about 3 months now and things are going well. I wanted to share with you a few tips that I come to use along the way.

First here is what I use so far:

I use the GroVia One Size shells along with the snap in inserts and some pre folds. I use the prefolds during the day when we are at home and I can change him often. I use the snap in GroVia inserts at night and if we are going out and about. Also at night I have started using the GroVia soaker pads which I have found to be very helpful. My little man is a heavy wetter at night and was soaking through every night until I started using the soaker pads. He sleeps about 10 hours every nights so its great now that when he wakes up his clothes are not soaked!

To start I would have to say you should have at least 3 shells and 12 inserts of some type. I started with less of both and ended up ordering more within in 2 weeks because I couldn’t keep up with the laundry. Currently I have 12 prefolds, 12 snap inserts, 4 soaker pads, and 3 shells. For my next purchase I will get 2 more shells and 4 more soaker pads and probably 2 more snap in inserts. After that I think I will be set at least for awhile. GroVia is the only brand I have used so far, but didn’t feel the need to try anything else because I really like the way they work. I did a lot of reading and talked with a few people before choosing and I think I made the right choice for me and my little man.

Tip 1: Have enough inserts and shells right from the start. If you are just starting and can’t get a lot to begin with…make sure you have some backup disposable diapers. There is nothing worse then getting ready to leave for the day and realizing that the load of diapers you thought you put into the dryer, you didn’t! Now you have no clean diapers and are running late.

Tip 2: Follow the directions! I know this may sound obvious, but you really do need to wash the inserts and soaker pads multiple times before using if you want them to be effective.

Tip 3: Remember that the inserts are not going to look brand new forever. I have some perfectionist tendencies and that has caused me to obsess over the smallest discoloration on the diapers. Yes you want them to be clean, but there will be some spots you just can’t get out no matter how hard you try!

Tip 4: Figure out what works best for you. I did a lot of reading to try to figure out what I should do. Then finally I just went and got some stuff to start. You just have to start and go from there to see how it works for you.

I have recently started juicing. I am loving it so far! I have done a lot of reading about how healthy juicing in for a few months now, but now I have started it myself.

My favorite juice is carrot/apple. I do about 10 carrots and 2 apples…this makes enough juice for me and my husband. It taste great and gives me a lot of energy. I usually have a glass mid morning and late afternoon when I am feeling a little tired and need a good pick me up.

Carrots are a good source of Calcium and Iron, and a very good source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

I like juicing because its as easy and fast way to get the nutrients from fruits and vegetables. I love fruits and vegetables to begin with, but think juicing would be great for people who do not like the taste of different fruits and vegetables because you can hide the flavors you may not like as much with other flavors you enjoy and you can still get the nutrients from all the items.

One of my favorite TV shows to watch is TLC’s What Not To Wear! As I watching the show the other night it really hit me how much taking care of your outer appearance can you help you feel better about everything in your life. I watch the show all the time, but this episode really made it hit home how much it can affect you. The lady on the show had completely changed her life for the better…stopped drinking, started spending more time with her family, lost like 40lbs, and was training for a marathon, but she still looked and seemed sad. After the makeover she just looked and felt so much happier.

That night I started thinking about what I do in the days that I feel the best.On the days where I feel really energized and happy I take time to get myself ready for the days…

I workout, shower, get dressed in clothes that I feel good about, put on some makeup, and actually do something with my hair other then a ponytail. Taking the extra time in the morning to do these things makes the rest of my day feel better even if I am just staying at home playing with my little guy. I know from watching my Mom and from being a new Mom myself that you can get caught up in just taking care of everyone else, but in order to do that better we need to take care of ourselves as well.

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As many of you out there my plans for the new year include health and fitness. My goal is to finish loosing the weight I put on having my baby boy (almost there!), tone up, transform our diet to a 75% raw diet, and run a half marathon by July!

For the fitness/weight loss:

Spend 1 hour 5 days a week at the gym. My gym workout includes 20-30 mins of cardio and then 30 mins of free weights. I usually rotate weights from upper body, abs, and lower body. To get more time running to prepare for running a half marathon I am going to begin to rotate a day in where I do cardio for the entire hour. Since I get bored easily I try to rotate the way I do my cardio….treadmill, track, elliptical machine, Arc trainer. Then I use free weights and different exercise balls for my strength training. I also enjoy throwing a day of yoga into my workout.

For our diet:

I am slowing trying to convert most of our diet to raw fruits and veggies. I am learning different ways to do this. It takes a little getting used to. I have spent my whole life thinking that things need to be cooked to be the main part of the meal. I am starting by making a smoothie for breakfast, fruit or veggie snack, salad for lunch, carrot juice snack, and a dinner consisting of at least half raw veggies.

Other 2011 goals:

Get better at keeping in touch with friends that are not local.

Get my personal trainer certificate

Take one class towards becoming a registered dietitian

Spend more time working on this blog!

Build my Shaklee business

Here is to a great 2011 where life may take us! Good luck to everyone with there New Years resolutions/goals.